At the latest since Mark Zuckerberg renamed his company Meta to express his vision of the future, the metaverse has arrived among the general population. But what is behind this collective term? Which of the numerous definitions and models are relevant? Regardless of whether the metaverse is regarded as the "new generation of the Internet" or not - what is certain is that it brings with it a new dimension of corporate communication and presentation. This results in numerous opportunities - also for law firms and legal departments.
Two different perspectives on the subject were examined in the STP DIGITALK METAVERSE. Michael Alf, connoisseur of AI, Web3 and the Metaverse focused after a short introduction on the practical possibilities of this new technology and dispelled various Metaverse myths. The representatives of the law firm Gleiss Lutz went one step further and showed how a law firm can present itself in the Metaverse and already occupy new topics today.
Metaverse - what is behind it?
Basically, it should be noted that there is no one metaverse, but that there are many different universes. AI specialist Michael Alf, for example, distinguishes between different metaverse models, target groups and forms of use, e.g. crypto-metaverse, game-metaverse, events-metaverse, etc. He highlighted that the technology has a wide variety of uses to offer for very many subject areas.
For business projects, Alf finds a combination of AI and the metaverse particularly interesting. In his opinion, interesting scenarios can be developed in this way. For example, you can meet with a new customer in the metaverse, invite him or her into your corporate environment, so to speak, and exchange ideas - supported by an avatar that can enrich the conversation with additional information.
Legal advice in the metaverse - how does that work?
The law firm Gleiss Lutz is fundamentally open to digitalization and new technologies. Consequently, it also looked into the possibilities of the metaverse at an early stage and realized what advantages avatars bring and how helpful it can be to move through a combination of virtual and real worlds with 3D glasses.
For this reason, the firm created its own address in the Metaverse and linked it to Gleiss Lutz's Internet website. Jumpin points to Horizon, Workrooms and Spatial were also set up. The goal was to exchange ideas with others in the virtual environment, to test the possibilities of the new technology and to help shape the future. It is precisely in the use of 3D glasses and the linking of the analog and digital worlds on a new level that the lawyers at Gleiss Lutz see new interesting consulting approaches for their work.
The law firm has already held an initial, well-attended recruiting event at its Metaverse office. They were particularly impressed by how intensive the exchange with the applicants was and how long they engaged with the law firm.
Economic perspective of the Metaverse
The potential of the Metaverse is also interesting from an economic perspective. Metaverse specialist Dr. Eric Wagner, for example, expects a transaction volume of USD 4-5 trillion by the end of 2023 - for comparison, the gross domestic product in Germany was USD 3.7 in 2021. In addition, it is expected that especially in legal services, due to the metaverse, numerous new areas will open up, which must first be understood and then occupied.
Listen to the entire edition of our DIGITALK "METAVERSE: Opportunities for the legal industry" in audio format here:
